The arrests are tied to charges of murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking US federal agents have charged 127 suspected mobsters in multiple investigations into New York’s organised crime families.
The arrests were made on Thursday morning throughout New York City, New Jersey, Rhode Island and other areas in the north-east US, FBI officials said.
The arrests are tied to charges of murder, extortion and narcotics.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the arrests amounted to the largest mafia crackdown in the history of the FBI.
“We are committed and determined to eradicating these criminals enterprises and bringing their members to justice,” Mr Holder said during a news conference in Brooklyn.
Mr Holder said mafia-controlled taxes, which can affect ports and small businesses, have a negative impact on the US economy.
“It [the mafia] is an ongoing threat to the economic well-being of this country,” he said.
Officials said alleged leaders of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, Colombo and DeCavalcante families were among those who had been arrested.
The arrests were made as the result of information obtained through wiretaps, co-operatation from informants and other central intelligence, said Janice Fedarcyk, FBI’s New York division.
Former mob members, who recorded thousands of hours of conversations with mafia family bosses, also assisted in the investigation, authorities said.
Suspects arrested on Thursday are being charged with crimes that include arson, extortion, gambling, loan sharking and labor racketeering.
Mr Holder said the charges spawned from decades of offences, including murders within rivalling crime families, a killing during a botched robbery and even a double homicide after a argument in a pub.
The sweep began before dawn on Thursday with some 800 federal agents and police officers arresting a range of individuals being investigated, from suspected small-time bookers to senior family leaders.
Mr Holder said all five major crime families in the New York City area were targeted in the investigation, which led to the largest FBI-led mafia crackdown in US history.
Former mafia member Salvatore Vitale was sentenced to prison in October after federal officials and prosecutors praised his work in double-crossing his own crime syndacate.
Vitale, who was arrested in 2003, gave authorities information on at least 11 murders, which helped bring down the once prominent Bonanno family in the New York area.
John “Sonny” Franzese, a 93-year-old member of the Colombo crime family, was also sentenced in Brooklyn on Friday to eight years in prison for extorting strip clubs and a pizzeria in the New York Metro Area.
Mafia families in the US have seen a sharp decline in fortunes in the the past 10 years as the result of court testimony from informants, who have begun breaking their code of silence in recent years.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.